Forming a partnership {II}

“Partnership is key to a successful legal career, a sure way of institutionalising a law firm to succeed a particular individual and also, a medium of encouraging professionalism in the legal world. I strongly believe that for a lasting partnership, founding partners must have reasonable experience on the job and not only knowledge in elementary […]

“Partnership is key to a successful legal career, a sure way of institutionalising a law firm to succeed a particular individual and also, a medium of encouraging professionalism in the legal world. I strongly believe that for a lasting partnership, founding partners must have reasonable experience on the job and not only knowledge in elementary law…”
On September 23, 2014, we discussed the concept of partnership in the legal world and what young wigs desirous of forming a partnership need to consider before venturing into one, the topic of discuss today is not the advantages or disadvantages of forming a partnership as not every lawyer buys into the idea and no matter what this writer says, such belief cannot be changed, rather the points of focus are the required steps to take in laying a solid foundation for a lasting partnership. Viz:
Name: The name of a partnership just as the name of a person is very important. Partners can decide to use a generic name like some already established ones in the legal parlance  ‘Prestige Advocates’ or the surnames of the partners or create an acronym from the names of partners. 
Whichever style partners decide to use to name a firm, it needs to be sorted out and searched at the Corporate Affairs Commission {C.A.C} to know if available. There can be no nameless partnerships, thus intending partners need to come up with a name to work with.
Business Plan: By definition a business plan is “a document demonstrating the feasibility of a prospective new business and providing a road map for its first several years of operation.”  This document would include an executive summary, business description, market analysis, organisational and managerial function, the service to be rendered, funding and financial projections et al. This would give the partners an idea of what it would cost to successfully run the firm for 6-12 months, depending on which is viable.
Partnership agreement: This is the backbone of any partnership. “It explicitly details the relationship between the business partners, their individual obligations and contributions to the firm.”  In the case of a law firm, the partnership agreement determines the duration of the partnership, restrictions of each partner, the bankers of the firm, duties and powers of each partner, admission of new partners, retirement, death and expulsion, confidentiality et al.
Intending partners ought to provide a fit to purpose agreement depending on the type of partnership they decide to go into.
Type of partnership:  Intending partners ought to be on the same page in terms of the type of partnership they decide to run, some lawyers are satisfied with an open/loose partnership, i.e a situation where each partner is solely responsible for  his own law practice under the name of the partnership but in different location {one could be in Abuja, the other in Lagos}. The only connecting dot in this form of partnership is the name but each partner is responsible for the affairs of his own firm. There is the close-ended partnership, where the business of the firm irrespective of location is the responsibility of every partner, meaning each partner has a deciding power in the affairs of the firm be it employment of associates, payment of salaries et al.
Place of business: The business of the partnership shall be carried out at such place or places as may from time to time be agreed between the partners. This would depend on where each partner resides or carries out business individually; or where would be accessible to clients. Either way, the place of business of any partnership is paramount.
Weaknesses and strength:  The concept of partnership is for partners to complement each other in terms of personal weaknesses and strengths, what is lacking in one partner may be in abundance in another partner. It is for this reason that intending partners should be able to identify strengths and weaknesses and work it out for the good of the firm.
The foundation of every building is the groundwork, the supporting layer of a super structure, as such determines the firmness and longevity of the house. The same applies to a partnership; the way and manner it begins determines how long it would last.
Godspeed!

Do send your comment{s}, observation{s} and recommendation{s} to [email protected] or like us on www.facebook.com/younglaywerscolumn